Published: Tuesday, September 24, 2013 at 10:33 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, September 24, 2013 at 10:33 p.m.

Residents have reason to be afraid – and angry – that gang members in Wilmington have become so emboldened that they openly chase their victims through the streets, firing at will from moving vehicles without regard to collateral damage. Ironically, Wilmington Police Chief Ralph Evangelous suggests this turf war is the result of successful efforts to identify and jail leaders of the various rival gangs in town.

Now their subordinates are fighting for control, and fighting to take over others' turf. Caught in the middle are people whose only concern is protecting their families from these thugs. Their bullets have shot holes in houses and sent mothers diving to the floor, using their bodies to shield young children. They send people ducking behind furniture almost instinctively when shots ring out nearby, even if they hit nothing in particular.

On Saturday, bullets flew as a gray Honda chased a moped down Forest Hills Drive. When the shooting was done, 18-year-old Joseph David Williams, the moped's passenger, was dead and the shooter in the car had sped off. Police say the shooting was likely gang-related, but few details were provided. The next day, more shots rang out off Princess Place Drive and on the Northside, not far from the Love Grove community. At one point occupants of two cars may have been shooting at each other; another drive-by shooting fired upon a house whose owner also reported that someone had tried to light his home on fire. Monday morning, a van was shot up.

And that is but one weekend of violence in this small Southern city.

This time, residents of Forest Hills Drive woke to the discovery that a teenager had been murdered on their street. Rather than retreat into their homes, several residents consoled Williams' mother, Darlene Williams, who lives on Mercer Avenue in the nearby Beaumont neighborhood.

The Forest Hills and Beaumont Park areas now find themselves smack in the middle of a turf war, yet another part of town where residents have seen violence. They realize that the best tool they have for fighting this crime is each other. They realize that the effort to stop this violence goes beyond neighborhood boundaries.

Most of all, they understand that they can play an active role in combating this type of crime by keeping their eyes open, by staying in touch with police as well as their neighbors, and by refusing to watch helplessly as this "war" is fought in their midst.

May their voices ring loud and their numbers grow. They are not fighting to "take back" their neighborhood – it is theirs.

<p>Residents have reason to be afraid – and angry – that gang members in Wilmington have become so emboldened that they openly chase their victims through the streets, firing at will from moving vehicles without regard to collateral damage. Ironically, Wilmington Police Chief <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic9935"><b>Ralph Evangelous</b></a> suggests this turf war is the result of successful efforts to identify and jail leaders of the various rival gangs in town.</p><p>Now their subordinates are fighting for control, and fighting to take over others' turf. Caught in the middle are people whose only concern is protecting their families from these thugs. Their bullets have shot holes in houses and sent mothers diving to the floor, using their bodies to shield young children. They send people ducking behind furniture almost instinctively when shots ring out nearby, even if they hit nothing in particular.</p><p>On Saturday, bullets flew as a gray Honda chased a moped down Forest Hills Drive. When the shooting was done, 18-year-old Joseph David Williams, the moped's passenger, was dead and the shooter in the car had sped off. Police say the shooting was likely gang-related, but few details were provided. The next day, more shots rang out off Princess Place Drive and on the Northside, not far from the Love Grove community. At one point occupants of two cars may have been shooting at each other; another drive-by shooting fired upon a house whose owner also reported that someone had tried to light his home on fire. Monday morning, a van was shot up.</p><p>And that is but one weekend of violence in this small Southern city.</p><p>This time, residents of Forest Hills Drive woke to the discovery that a teenager had been murdered on their street. Rather than retreat into their homes, several residents consoled Williams' mother, Darlene Williams, who lives on Mercer Avenue in the nearby Beaumont neighborhood.</p><p>The Forest Hills and Beaumont Park areas now find themselves smack in the middle of a turf war, yet another part of town where residents have seen violence. They realize that the best tool they have for fighting this crime is each other. They realize that the effort to stop this violence goes beyond neighborhood boundaries.</p><p>Most of all, they understand that they can play an active role in combating this type of crime by keeping their eyes open, by staying in touch with police as well as their neighbors, and by refusing to watch helplessly as this "war" is fought in their midst.</p><p>May their voices ring loud and their numbers grow. They are not fighting to "take back" their neighborhood – it is theirs.</p>